BMI View: Botswana will experience electricity generation growth towards 2019 onwards. Growth willcome from the initially underperforming thermal power sector through new coal-fired capacity, which willeventually allow Botswana to be less reliant on electricity imports from its neighbours.

Latest Updates And Structural Trends

Japanese company Marubeni has formed a joint venture with South Korean firm Posco Energy, whichhas been named as the preferred bidder for the 300 megawatts (MW) expansion of the Morupule B PowerStation. This will be the first Independent Power Producer (IPP) operated plant in Botswana.

Shumba Energy has stated that it is awaiting the finalisation of the power purchase agreement (PPA)before construction will start on its Sechaba Coal Power Plant, which it currently expects to startoperations between 2018 and 2019.

Shumba Energy has submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) for the 100MW solar power tender inJwaneng, and has secured partners for the tender, namely Mulilo, SunPower and Total.

The Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) has been experiencing unplanned outages in the capital,Gaborone, due to equipment failures at substations. A power outage in late January has affected localradio and telecoms stations, causing them to be cut.

The BPC has announced that the first phase of construction for the North West Transmission Grid is dueto be commenced by March 2016, with the expected completion date in 2018.

We currently forecast that total generation will grow from 0.42TWh in 2016 to 3.2TWh in 2025.